Golf club cover



Feb. 11, 1969 D. L. ASHLIN ET AL 3,426,815

GOLF CLUB coi /ER Filed March 13, 1967 V INVENTORS 041/4: A. 467/401 yALLA/v 0. PEA/Al ATTO/Q/VEV I United States Patent 3,426,815 GOLF CLUBCOVER David L. Ashlin, Brooklyn Park, Minn. (8617 Mattson Brooklane,Minneapolis, Minn. 55430), and Allan J. Fehn, Fridley, Minn. (7829 AldenWay, Minneapolis, Minn. 55432) Filed Mar. 13, 1967, Ser. No. 622,621 US.Cl. 150-52 Int. Cl. A63]: 57/00; B65d 65/02 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE Background of the invention It is desirable to provide theheads of golf clubs with covers to prevent injury to the golf club headsas the heads are bumped against each other in the golf bag. The golfclub cover also provides a ready means of identification of theparticular club since the covers may be of different colors and may havenumerals aflixed thereto. Such covers are particularly desirable inconnection with irons both because of the large number of such clubswhich have to be separately identified and because of the fact that theyare more likely to cause injury to each other.

While it has been proposed in the past to provide covers for golf clubs,these have usually involved either a zipper or drawstring fasteningmeans so that substantial effort is involved in removing and reapplyingthe cover. Furthermore, many of these prior covers have been relativelybulky so that they cannot be conveniently carried in the golfers pocketwhile he is using the club. In addition, in order to support the zipperor drawstring fastening means, some of the prior art covers have beenmade of relatively heavy material which not only adds to the bulk of thematerial but renders it more difiicult to conveniently apply identifyingnumerals to the cover.

Summary 0 invlention An object of the present invention is to provide avery simple head cover for a golf club which can be quickly applied andquickly removed and which is suificiently compact that the covers may beapplied to all of the irons in the golf bag without undue crowding. Itis also an object of our invention to provide a golf club cover in whichidentifying numerals can be readily applied as by stitching.

In accomplishing the above objects, we provide a casing of flexiblematerial having an opening therein for insertion of the head of a golfclub, this casing having secured to the inner surfaces thereof adjacentthe opening a plurality of flexible strips of fastening material, thesestrips being of the type having mating interlocking portions so thatwhen the walls of the casing are pressed together with the golf clubhead in the casing, the opening is sufliciently closed to preventremoval of the head until the flexible strips are disengaged. By usingfastening material of this type, which may be of the type commerciallysold under the trade name Velcro, it is possible to readily close theopening in the bag without aligning any fastening members together. Thecover may be removed by simply pulling on one end of the cover, causingdisengagement of the fastening elements. In its specific form, thecasing is formed of two layers of flexible material secured together,the outer layer being relatively soft and the inner layer beingrelatively wear resistant. This casing may be formed of two sections ofthe same configuration, which are fastened together along their edgesexcept along one edge so as to provide the opening along this one edge.The fastening means preferably extends over only a portion of theopening so as to leave an opening for the shaft of the club.Furthermore, because the material of the casing is not unduly bulky, itis possible to stitch through the wall of the casing to form a numeralcorresponding to the number of a particular golf club.

Brief description of the drawing FIGURE 1 is a plan view of our improvedgolf club cover with the portions of the cover adjacent the openingtherein turned outwardly to show the fastening means;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view on a somewhat smaller scale of the samecovering, showing the outline of the fastening means in dotted lines;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a golf club with one of our golf clubcovers applied thereto;

FIGURE 4 is a view on the same scale as FIGURE 1 showing the golf clubcover applied to the head of a golf club; and

FIGURE 5 is a view taken from the right-hand side of FIGURE 4 showingthe manner in which the fastening members are interengaged to retain theclub cover about the head of the club.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring first to FIGURE 1, ourimproved golf club cover comprises two portions 10 and 11 of identicalconfiguration. Each of these portions comprises an outer layer 12 of arelatively soft material such as woven nylon, this outer layer beingdesignated by the reference numeral 12, and an inner layer 13 of awater-resistant, wearresistant material such as expanded vinyl. Theouter layer 12 and the inner layer 13 are preferably bonded together asby the use of heat. The two portions 10 and 11 of the cover are curvedat their left-hand end and have a relatively straight right-hand edge asbest shown in FIG- URE 2. This right-hand edge preferably is inclinedoutwardly proceeding from the bottom to the top, again as best shown inFIGURE 2. The two portions 10 and 11 are fastened together along theirouter edges, except at the right-hand end by any suitable means such asstitching 15 which extends over the outer edges of the two pieces 10 and11. The right-hand inclined edges are not stitched together but areseparable as shown in FIGURE 1 to provide an opening for the insertionof the head of the golf club. Stitching 16 is provided in connectionwith these right-hand edges to reinforce the edges and guard againstabrasion thereof upon the insertion of a golf club.

In order to readily fasten the cover about a golf club head, we providetwo strips 20' and 21 which are designed to interlock with each otherwhen pressed together, These strips 20' and 21 are securely fastened tothe opposite interior walls of the casing portions 10 and 11. The strip20 is a hooked pile strip while the strip 21 is a pile fabric or alooped pile fabric. Such a hooked pile strip and cooperating pile fabricof the type employed are commercially available under the trademarkVelcro. As best shown in FIGURES 1 and 5, the hooked pile fabric 20 hasa plurality of minute hooks which when pressed into engagement with thepile fabric 21 retain the two strips 20 and 21 in interlockedrelationship. As best shown in FIGURE 2, the strips 20 and 21 which areof substantially identical configuration are located adjacent theopening on the right-hand side of the casing 3 and extend slightly overone-half of the extent of the opening.

Since the two portions 10 and 11 of the casing are relatively thin, itis possible to readily apply indicia to the casing prior to fasteningthe two portions 1 and 12 together by stitching the desired indicia ontothe easing portion. We find it desirable to employ an embroidery stitch.The indicia preferably takes the form of a numeral corresponding to thenumber of the particular iron over which the cover is to be placed, sucha numeral being indicated in the drawing by the reference numeral 25. Asshown in the drawing, the numeral is the numeral 9 indicating that thiscover is adapted to cover a 9 iron.

FIGURE 3 shows a typical golf club with our improved cover appliedthereto. The golf club comprises a shaft 26 having a handle grip 27 anda head shown within the golf club cover. It will be noted that the coveris securely retained to the head. As best indicated in FIG- URES 4 and5, the upper right-hand portions of cover portions and 11 are squeezedtogether and are held in this condition about the golf club head. Sincethe fastening strips 20 and 21 interlock regardless of the relativelateral positions in which they engage, due to the large number of hookson member 20 and the large number of loops on member 21, it isunnecessary to be concerned about the relative lateral positions ofportions 10 and 11 when they are pressed together, such as would benecessary with a fastening means such as snaps. Thus, even though thematerial of the cover is shifted as the club is inserted into herelatively fiat cover, it is still possible to readily close the cover.Furthermore, because of the fact that the type of fastening means weemploy need not be engaged over its entire extent, it is possible tohave the fastening strips 20 and 21 of such a size that they can beengaged closely adjacent to the shank 26 of the golf club to effectivelyclose the opening in the golf club cover.

In use, the head 29 of the golf club shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 4is inserted into the cover. Prior to insertion of club, the cover isrelatively flat as is apparent from FIGURES 1 and 2. After insertion ofthe club, cover is then pulled up until the lower inner edge of thecover engages the lower edge of the golf club. The upper right-handportions are then squeezed together as previously explained to firmlylock the cover about the golf club head. When it is desired to removethe golf club cover, all that it is necessary to do is to grasp theleft-hand edge of the cover and pull it to the left. The camming actionof the golf club head will force the two fastening members 20 and 21apart to cause them to disengage, permitting the cover to be readilyremoved merely by pulling the same from the left-hand edge. The coverthus can be applied and removed with a minimum of effort upon the partof the golfer, thus encouraging the use of such covers.

It will thus be seen that we have provided a golf club cover which iscompact and simple to apply and remove from the golf club head. Becauseof the outer layer of relatively soft material, the heads are protectedfrom damage by bumping into each other. At the same time, the innerwear-resistant layer guards against the material being worn unduly byinsertion and removal of the golf club. Furthermore, the inner layer,being water resistant, tends to retard the entrance of moisture into theinterior of the cover. It will also be noted that because of therelatively compact nature of the layers used to form the golf clubcover, it is possible to readily apply identifying indicia such asnumerals by a stitching process.

While we have shown a specific embodiment of our invention for purposesof illustration, it is to be understood that the scope of our inventionis limited solely by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A head cover for a golf club of the iron type having a shaft and ahead secured thereto, said cover being in the form of a relatively flat,thin, elongated casing of flexible material of a size somewhat largerthan the golf club head to be covered and having an open end of a widthsubstantially equal to the maximum width of said cover, the opening insaid open end extending entirely across said end for insertion of thegolf club head, said casing having secured to the inner surfaces thereofadjacent the opening therein a plurality of flexible strips of fasteningmaterial extending from one edge of said opening partly thereacross,said strips of fastening material having mating interlocking portions sothat when the walls of said casing are pressed together with a golf clubhead in said casing, said opening is sufiiciently closed to preventremoval of said head until said flexible strips are disengaged, theinterlocking portions of said strips of fastening material beingsufficiently numerous that the strips may be secured together in any ofnumerous laterally spaced relative positions.

2. The cover of claim 1 in which said casing is formed of two flatsections of the same configuration which are fastened together alongtheir edges except along one end edge so as to provide said openingalong said one end edge.

3. The cover of claim 1 in which one of said strips of fasteningmaterial has a plurality of hooks projecting therefrom and the other ofsaid strips has a plurality of loops adapted to coact with said hooks.

4. The cover of claim 1 in which said strips of fastening materialextend only over a suflicient extent of said opening so as to enablesaid opening to be closed sufficiently to grip the shaft of the club.

5. The cover of claim 1 in which one wall of said casing has stitchingtherethrough in an outline forming a numeral corresponding to the numberof a particular golf club so as to aid in identifying the golf club whenthe cover is applied to the head thereof.

6. The cover of claim 1 in which the open end of the cover is straightto facilitate insertion of a club head and in which the opposite end iscurved to better conform with the contour of the outer end of the clubhead.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,479,136 1/1924 Guinzburg 523,055,409 9/1962 Latina 150 -52 3,143,154 8/1964 Best 15052 3,145,7498/1964 Rosenow 15052 3,292,748 12/1966 Rifkin -41 XR 3,303,865 2/1967Ouimet 15052 DONALD F. NORTON, Primary Examiner.

